Trent Richardson will spend the offseason studying

Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson said at his postseason press conference that the team would not have won 12 total games this season without running back Trent Richardson.

The obvious quip in retort is that they might have won more because Richardson did so little to help the offense after being acquired from the Browns for a first-round pick during the season. Richardson added a fumble in the playoff win over the Chiefs to his regular season struggles, which Richardson believes were at least partially caused by his unfamiliarity with the offense.

Gaining that familiarity is Richardson’s top priority this offseason with a little time saved to pick the brains of backs who have found a little more running room in their careers.

“Learn the system, not just memorizing it,” Richardson said, via Mike Wells of ESPN.com. “Learning the whole concept of the system. There’s a difference between having it memorized and feeling comfortable with the system. I’m going talk to a lot of veteran players, talk to Adrian [Peterson], talk to [LaDainian Tomlinson], talk to Emmitt Smith to make sure I’m the best I need to be next year.”

Richardson says he’s motivated to “contribute to the team” in 2014 after hearing the complaints about his lack of production after the trade. Donald Brown, who replaced Richardson in the starting lineup, is a free agent and may not return, which should give Richardson even more motivation to make Grigson reach a little less when discussing the trade after next season.

Richardson seemed like he was consumed mentally by learning a new playbook and avoiding mistakes on a new team. Every player in the NFL will tell you that once you have a fully thorough understanding of the team and playbook…than you can play faster while thinking less. What he really needs is to simplify his game and remember what got him to the NFL in the first place.

icanspeel says:Feb 5, 2014 4:13 PM

Maybe he should ask Donald Brown. The main issue I saw with Trent was he never saw where the hole was and would dance around until he was swarmed and tackled.

At the end of the day, you shouldn’t overthink football. It’s just football, especially for a running back. All the “system” you need to know is “Take the handoff, run to hole, try to gain yards before getting tackled.”